Indian Movies Submitted For Oscars

I ndia is a land of many amazing feats of glory. One such feat is of cinematic excellence. This country is not just the land of Hindi films but also of other languages. These have resulted in worldwide recognition and in the cinematic world, it doesn’t get bigger than the Oscars.

It's an annual award given to a performer, director, technician, etc. , of the motion-picture industry for superior achievement in a specific category. The statuettes given in Oscar award are solid bronze and plated in 24-karat gold.

As of now, only 3 movies submitted to the Oscars have been nominated, though none of them have won the award. Here are all the movies that were submitted as India's official entry to Oscar:

Mother India: 1957 Submission – Nominated

In 1957, Mother India went on to be nominated in the Best Foreign Language Film category at the Oscars.

India's first submission to Oscars, Mehboob Khan directorial starring Nargis, Sunil Dutt, Rajendra Kumar, and Raaj Kumar, lost out to Nights of Cabiria for the award with just one vote.

#61YearsOfMotherIndia (Oct 25) #MehboobKhan 's classic, first ever Indian movie to get Oscar nomination, #MotherIndia featuring #Nargis #SunilDutt #RajendraKumar & #RaajKumar . #Naushad

Mehboob Khan directing lead actors; Nargis, Sunil Dutt and Rajendra Kumar @duttsanjay pic.twitter.com/FCOaKcab1w

— Movies N Memories (@BombayBasanti) October 24, 2018

The story is centered around a woman named Radha from a poverty-stricken household. Although she struggles to raise her sons, Radha doesn’t step back to turn against society and even her loved ones in order to serve justice, in the end.

Salaam Bombay: 1988 Submission – Nominated

Written and directed by Mira Nair, Salaam Bombay! chronicles the lives of children residing in the Bombay slums. Though many movies have used the Mumbai slums as a movie setting, Salaam Bombay still remains one of the most impressive movies on the subject.

In fact, it won the National Award and was also included in The New York Times' list of best 1000 movies ever made.

Oscars 2018: Mother India, Lagaan, Salaam Bombay, 5 films that fell short of a win https://t.co/vCc5uNfDyR

— Bollywood Life (@bollywood_life) March 4, 2018

Guide: 1965 Submission - Not Nominated

This romantic drama, based on a novel of the same name by R.K. Narayan, is one of the most iconic love stories from Bollywood. It explored the various emotions and complications life had to offer.

Dev Anand and Waheeda Rehman‘s chemistry was crackling. It went on to be no.4 on the Time magazine Best Bollywood Classics and was screened at the Cannes Festival 2007.

Guide (V. Anand, India, 1965) 1 #film al giorno: micro-recensioni https://t.co/ECTiOSkA2J #cinema #Oscar #Bollywood pic.twitter.com/Ry6lnouRgB

— Giovanni Visetti (@GioVisFREE) August 11, 2016

1947 Earth: 1999 Submission - Not Nominated

The second movie in director Deepa Mehta's 'Elements Trilogy', 1947 Earth starred Aamir Khan, Rahul Khanna, and Nandita Das and was set during the 1947 partition of India.

1947 Earth (1998) @aamir_khan as Dil Nawaz

32 YEARS OF AAMIR KHAN #32YearsOfAamir pic.twitter.com/WC39M7pQzy

— Aamir Khan World (@aamirkhanodisha) April 29, 2020

Hey Ram: 2000 Submission - Not Nominated

Shah Rukh Khan and Kamal Hassan shared screen space in this film helmed by Kamal Hassan. The movie is one of the cult classics of all time. It was based on the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi by Nathuram Godse.

"India's official Oscar entry, "Hey! Ram" is a deeply absorbing, portrait of a difficult chapter in the country's history" https://t.co/oPVmVqUXWW

(It was a gem of a movie on such a sensitive issue) ❤️ #19YearsofHeyRam #SRK #KamalHaasan pic.twitter.com/4OpDmSK0sK

— Sᴏʜᴀɪʟ ★ (@SohailAAura) February 18, 2019

Lagaan: 2001 Submission – Nominated

Lagaan revolves around a small village whose inhabitants, burdened by high taxes, wage a war of cricket to question the system. With a captivating performance by Mr. Perfectionist Aamir Khan and chest-thumping music from AR Rahman, the film had not only won critical acclaim but also the hearts of Indian audiences all over the globe.

Lagaan becomes the 3rd indian movie whis was nominated in Oscar 28 YEARS OF AAMIR KHAN pic.twitter.com/7ZR8e0L55a

— Raj (@Aamirian_Raj) April 29, 2016

Shortlisted for the 74th Academy Awards, this Ashutosh Gowariker directorial is the third Oscar-nominated Indian movie as of 2020.

Devdas: 2002 Submission - Not Nominated

Directed by Sanjay Leela Bhansali and starring Shah Rukh Khan, Aishwarya Rai, and Madhuri Dixit, this is one of the grandest re-telling of the popular novel by Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay.

Devdas was ranked #74 in Empire magazine...

The Time Magazine Named it As The Best Movie of 2002 among All The Releases released that year.

India's Official Entry to Oscars.. #17YearsOfIconicDevdas pic.twitter.com/gaTpbBjlJR

— ℣αɱριя౯ (@SRKzCombatant) July 12, 2019

Paheli: 2005 Submission - Not Nominated

This was a fantasy romantic drama, directed by Amol Palekar and starring Shah Rukh Khan and Rani Mukerji in lead roles.

Paheli the movie opened at ninth Zimbabwe international film festival in Harare. Screened at Sundance film festival at palm spring . Paheli was Indian's official entry in 2006 Oscar. pic.twitter.com/Enc49jsYYN

— nawal aabed Allah (@aabed_nawal) June 23, 2019

During the same year an English-Telugu film Morning Raga - directed by Mahesh Dattani was also submitted as an independent entry. Neither of the movies won a nomination.

Rang De Basanti: 2006 Submission - Not Nominated

Written and directed by Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra, this is still considered as one of the best movies to define the Indian millennial generation.

Rang De Basanti was India's official presentation for the Oscars in 2006.A movie that touched the hearts of billions of people, made me sad #AFilmThatDidntGoToOscars

— vk (@vrk20__) February 25, 2019

The movie starred Aamir Khan, Siddharth Narayan, Soha Ali Khan, Kunal Kapoor, R. Madhavan, Sharman Joshi, Atul Kulkarni, and British actress Alice Patten.

Eklavya: 2007 Submission - Not Nominated

Directed by Vidhu Vinod Chopra, the film was a mystery drama movie starring an ensemble starcast, Amitabh Bachchan, Saif Ali Khan, Sharmila Tagore, Sanjay Dutt, Vidya Balan, Raima Sen, Jackie Shroff, Jimmy Sheirgill and Boman Irani.

Old News: : Eklavya is India's official entry for Oscars - Vidhu Vinod Chopra produced and directed movie... http://t.co/HeLc5WRX

— Qamar ZK (@rsbo) August 15, 2012

Taare Zameen Par: 2008 Submission - Not Nominated

Directed by Aamir Khan (who also starred in the movie), the movie that dealt with the issue of dyslexia and the flawed education system, became an eye-opener for the Indian society.

Old News: : Eklavya is India's official entry for Oscars - Vidhu Vinod Chopra produced and directed movie... http://t.co/HeLc5WRX

— Qamar ZK (@rsbo) August 15, 2012

Starring Darsheel Safary in the lead role, the movie won the National Film Award for Best Film on Family Welfare.

Peepli Live: 2010 Submission - Not Nominated

Written by Anusha Rizvi, this movie was also her directorial debut and was a satirical comedy - a severely underexplored genre in Indian cinema. The film dealt with the issue of farmer suicide and the political and media reaction to it and starred Raghubir Yadav, Shalini Vatsa, Nawazuddin Siddiqui, and Nawazuddin Siddiqui among others.

Peepli Live is the 5th Aamir Khan movie to be nominated for the Oscars from India - TZP, RDB, Lagaan, Earth, the other movies.

— Godwin Gilbert (@musingr) September 24, 2010

Barfi!: 2012 Submission - Not Nominated

Starring Ranbir Kapoor, Priyanka Chopra, and Ileana D'cruz, the movie was a romantic comedy directed by Anurag Basu. It became one of the highest-grossing movies of the year and is still remembered for the expert performances by the actors and an amazing soundtrack.

Ranbir Kapoor's one of the best performance

One of the best music album of this decade

India's official entry to Oscars in 2012

Ranbir's first 100 cr movie

Bollywood's first and last offbeat movie that crossed 100 cr mark

6 YEARS OF BARFI pic.twitter.com/1ceOpWIqK4

— RK (@kabiraRK) September 14, 2018

Bollywood’s finest Ranbir Kapoor and Priyanka Chopra‘s acting was top notch and we doubt anyone else would have done it better than these two!

Newton: 2017 Submission - Not Nominated

Directed by Amit V. Masurkar, the film starred Rajkummar Rao, Pankaj Tripathi, Anjali Patil and Raghubir Yadav.

Movie ' #Newton ', India's official entry in Best Foreign Language category at 90th Academy Awards, is out of #Oscars race. pic.twitter.com/O1wzqT8WeO

— All India Radio News (@airnewsalerts) December 15, 2017 A comedy-drama, the movie highlighted the reality of Indian election process in remote villages and was appreciated for its unique yet realistic storyline.

Gully Boy: 2019 Submission - Not Nominated

Zoya Akhtar's Gully Boy has been selected as India's official entry to the 92nd Oscars. The film stars Ranveer Singh and Alia Bhatt in the lead roles and the story of a rapper from the streets of Mumbai who dreamt of making it big in the world of music.

India's 'Gully Boy' is out of #Oscar race in International Feature Film category #Oscars2020 . #GullyBoy

— NDTV (@ndtv) December 17, 2019

This was the list of few Hindi movies which were submitted for Oscars from India. However, there are some movies from different languages as well, which were submitted for Oscars like Apur Sansar (1959), Mahanagar (1963), Deiva Magan (1969), Visaranai (2016), Court (2015), The Good Road (2013), Village Rockstars (2018), and many others.

Talking about the Indians who have won this esteemed award, there are only 5 Indians who have won the Oscars – Bhanu Athaiya (Best Costume Design – Gandhi, 1983); Satyajit Ray (Honorary Award, 1992); Resul Pookutty (Best Sound Mixing- Slumdog Millionaire, 2008); Gulzar (Best Original Song – Slumdog Millionaire, 2008) and A.R. Rahman (Best Original Score- Slumdog Millionaire 2008).